


with the aliens

by that_one_urchin



Category: The Half of It (2020)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Kissing, Secret Relationship, Summer, Summer Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24061867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_one_urchin/pseuds/that_one_urchin
Summary: Sometimes, sitting across from Aster in the back of Paul’s truck, Ellie has this feeling. A pinch in the pit of her stomach. Heat on her palms, running hot through her veins.
Relationships: Ellie Chu/Aster Flores
Comments: 19
Kudos: 578





	with the aliens

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely loved this movie, so I knew I had to write something for it

Sometimes, sitting across from Aster in the back of Paul’s truck, Ellie has this feeling. A pinch in the pit of her stomach. Heat on her palms, running hot through her veins.

The summer sun is beating down on them viscously, beads of sweat collecting on their exposed skin and dampening their clothes. Ellie definitely prefers the rain, but the heat adores Aster. It made her pull tighter clothes out of her closet, dusted cinnamon specks along her nose and cheeks, and melted her hair into a lighter, reddish-brown.

The weather has made it so Aster insists they go out at least once a week and sit in the sun. Ellie hates how the heat licks at her eyes, but Aster loves summer enough to pout about it. So, they go every Sunday (something spins in Ellie’s chest every time Aster skips church for her), pressing sweaty palms together and driving far out into the cornfields while their fingers are tangled over the center console.

At first, the borrowed truck had felt sort of empty without Paul’s laughter and jumbled speech leaking out of it, but now that the air grows thick and stifling it seems ridiculous to have three people in it at once.

That’s what Aster says to Paul, anyways. Ellie isn’t sure she believes it - they could always fit him in somewhere. She’s reluctant to bring it up or invite him along though, because even though Paul is her best friend now, these hours with Aster seem… private.

“Do you think aliens are real?” Aster asks. The question doesn’t seem important, but the way Aster crawls across the truck to rest her head in Ellie’s lap feels simple and intimate.

Ellie looks down at Aster once and then fixes her eyes up to the clear sky, figuring that the blinding white of the sun will be less harsh to her than the sweet brown of Aster’s eyes.

“No.”

“I do.” Aster replies and Ellie smiles upwards, keeping her love for Aster’s contradictions secret.

She’s grown to love debating things with Aster. Most people in town - most people in the world, honestly - would fold under an opposite opinion. It’s much easier to be silent and submissive, but nothing about Aster has proved to be easy.

“Why?” Ellie finally draws her gaze away from the sun, but she still doesn’t look at Aster. Her glasses slip down to the tip of her sweaty nose and she pushes them back up before eyeing the endless rows of corn surrounding them. “Where would they even be?”

“Bottom of the ocean.” Aster says immediately, sounding childish but not looking like it at all.

Aster is wearing one of Ellie’s flannels today, unbuttoned and loose over a simple black sports bra. Her jean shorts squeeze her thighs and from there her tanned legs go on for miles, ending in feet that are covered by dusty red Converse. The best part is Aster’s hair - long, soft strands that are currently all over Ellie’s lap.

Ellie drops her hand from her nose and mindlessly tangles it into Aster’s hair, spreading her fingers over Aster’s head and massaging her scalp. Aster blinks once, slowly, and her eyes fall shut as she sighs contentedly.

Christ. _Girls_.

“You’re ridiculous.” Ellie whispers, staying quiet in hopes that Aster will keep her eyes closed.

She does, but her mouth still opens. “You’ve never been to the bottom of the ocean.”

It’s stupid. Ellie definitely doesn’t believe in aliens, but her mind goes soft as Aster hums a quiet song. Aliens might exist. She doesn’t know now, everything has been a maybe since Aster. The world is flipped upside-down and turned inside out, all because Ellie Chu has kissed Aster Flores.

All impossible things are now possible. Hell has frozen over. Pigs are flying. Aster’s hand is reaching up to skim along Ellie’s jaw.

Ellie’s eyes shut as Aster’s open (there they go, contradicting each other again) and Aster grows more confident with her touching, pushing her palm up to fully cup Ellie’s jaw. The press of skin is damp with sweat, but the heat in their little touches has the power to evaporate it all in a millisecond.

“Ellie.” Aster says, so quietly that it seems as if she’s afraid the world will hear them.

Both girls look at each other, and they’re finally on the same wavelength - both breathless and scared, but so desperate that they kill the hesitation.

Aster sits up as Ellie goes down and they meet in the middle, getting swept up in a light press of lips that feels like everything. The angle is just off enough that they can only kiss shallowly, but Ellie’s stomach takes flight anyways, because she’s kissing Aster Flores.

Not just Aster Flores, the most popular girl in school and the most beautiful person in this entire town, but Aster. The girl who ruins Ellie’s sleep schedule with light night texts about the Great Gatsby and who brings vanilla scones down to the train station when Ellie is stuck in the overwhelming heat. She’s the one who Ellie has been falling in love with all these months, through love letters and warm, intertwined limbs.

Aster shifts her hand over to Ellie’s shoulder and spins them both around until they end up on the other side of the truck, this time with Aster on top of Ellie properly. Ellie looks up at Aster’s slightly blurry figure - her glasses must have gotten knocked off at some point.

“Hi.” Ellie says.

She’s lost what little bravado she had now that Aster is planted on top of her, their legs tangled just so one of Aster’s fits between hers. The pressure is maddening, because it’s barely there. Ellie suddenly wants everything Aster will give her, including the last four years of her life back. She could have spent all of high school kissing Aster instead of peering at her from across classrooms and over dusty church pews.

“Hi.” Aster replies, laughing lightly. Her breath tickles Ellie’s face and she inhales the mint. “Can you see without your glasses?”

“Yeah. I just wear them cause they look cool.” Ellie responds dryly.

Whenever she’s nervous, she relies on her sarcasm. Ellie knows that’s what she’s doing, but she can’t help it. Besides, the words make Aster laugh again and tilt her hips forward (into Ellie) a little more, so it’s a win.

Aster leans over and grabs the glasses from where they’re laying on the truck. She gently sets them back on Ellie’s face and Ellie smiles as she gets an unfiltered eyeful of Aster’s pretty grin.

“You do look cool.” Aster teases, lowering her head far enough that their noses brush.

They steal quick kisses, never too deep but still passionate. Ellie is new to all of this and Aster isn’t ready for anything outside of this little paradise they’ve built together, so they kiss and laugh and then do it all some more.

Eventually, the blue sky starts to bleed into purple and Aster leans away to answer a text from her parents. They have to go back into town. It’s a bit disappointing to get in the front of the truck knowing they’re both going home, and a part of Ellie wants to suggest that when they both get in they never stop driving and just run away, but she keeps her mouth shut.

As Aster sets one hand on the wheel and stretches the other out to hold Ellie’s, Ellie’s mind entertains all of the ridiculous places they could disappear to. LA, New York, Las Vegas.

To the bottom of the ocean, with the aliens.


End file.
